Quantitative Reduction in Central Foveal Thickness After First Anti-VEGF Injection as a Predictor of Final Outcome in BRVO Patients.

Abstract

To analyze the predictive ability of quantitative reduction in central foveal thickness (CFT) after the first antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injection to assess final outcome in branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) patients. A retrospective interventional consecutive case series. We retrospectively reviewed 60 treatment-naive BRVO patients. All the patients were treated with bevacizumab injection pro re nata. We measured the reduction in CFT 1 month after injection and at each visit along with other optical coherence tomography (OCT) features like external limiting membrane (ELM) integrity, ellipsoid zone (EZ) integrity, and foveal bulge (FB). At final follow-up more patients in the >25% CFT reduction group had a better mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and dry macula as compared with the ≤25% group (0.25 logMAR vs 0.46 logMAR, P = 0.03; 28 eyes vs 9 eyes, P = 0.005). Based on the final visual outcome we divided patients into 2 groups: group 1, BCVA ≥ 20/40; group 2, BCVA <20/40. Analysis at 1 month after injection revealed the ELM was intact in 27 (73%) and 5 (21.7%), EZ was intact in 28 (75.7%) and 11 (47.8%), and FB was intact in 12 (32.4%) and 2 (8.7%) patients, respectively, in groups 1 and 2 (P = 0.001, 0.02, 0.03). Patients who have more than a 25% reduction 1 month after the first anti-VEGF injection and a restored ELM, EZ, and FB have a significantly higher likelihood of achieving BCVA ≥20/40.